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Two-Step
In a not-too-distant future London, Tony Ling's a Zen gangster. Rosi Blades is a bored camgirl. They've never met, but this unlikely pair is about to embark on the chase of a lifetime through the crowded streets of the city. Rosi walks through the streets of London, broadcasting everything she sees to the internet, looking for trouble to help boost her online hit count . . . and it's trouble she finds when a runaway gangster zooms past her, chased by Tony. Tony's after a stolen briefcase, and soon Rosi finds herself caught up in a war between these gangsters as the hunted flees the hunter. But what's in the case the gangster stole from Tony . . . and was it really stolen?
128 pages, Paperback
First published November 23, 2010
1 person is currently reading
77 people want to read
About the author
Warren Ellis
1,971 books5,765 followersWarren Ellis is the award-winning writer of graphic novels like TRANSMETROPOLITAN, FELL, MINISTRY OF SPACE and PLANETARY, and the author of the NYT-bestselling GUN MACHINE and the “underground classic” novel CROOKED LITTLE VEIN, as well as the digital short-story single DEAD PIG COLLECTOR. His newest book is the novella NORMAL, from FSG Originals, listed as one of Amazon’s Best 100 Books Of 2016.
The movie RED is based on his graphic novel of the same name, its sequel having been released in summer 2013. IRON MAN 3 is based on his Marvel Comics graphic novel IRON MAN: EXTREMIS. He is currently developing his graphic novel sequence with Jason Howard, TREES, for television, in concert with HardySonBaker and NBCU, and continues to work as a screenwriter and producer in film and television, represented by Angela Cheng Caplan and Cheng Caplan Company. He is the creator, writer and co-producer of the Netflix series CASTLEVANIA, recently renewed for its third season, and of the recently-announced Netflix series HEAVEN’S FOREST.
He’s written extensively for VICE, WIRED UK and Reuters on technological and cultural matters, and given keynote speeches and lectures at events like dConstruct, ThingsCon, Improving Reality, SxSW, How The Light Gets In, Haunted Machines and Cognitive Cities.
Warren Ellis has recently developed and curated the revival of the Wildstorm creative library for DC Entertainment with the series THE WILD STORM, and is currently working on the serialising of new graphic novel works TREES: THREE FATES and INJECTION at Image Comics, and the serialised graphic novel THE BATMAN’S GRAVE for DC Comics, while working as a Consulting Producer on another television series.
A documentary about his work, CAPTURED GHOSTS, was released in 2012.
Recognitions include the NUIG Literary and Debating Society’s President’s Medal for service to freedom of speech, the EAGLE AWARDS Roll Of Honour for lifetime achievement in the field of comics & graphic novels, the Grand Prix de l’Imaginaire 2010, the Sidewise Award for Alternate History and the International Horror Guild Award for illustrated narrative. He is a Patron of Humanists UK. He holds an honorary doctorate from the University of Essex.
Warren Ellis lives outside London, on the south-east coast of England, in case he needs to make a quick getaway.
The movie RED is based on his graphic novel of the same name, its sequel having been released in summer 2013. IRON MAN 3 is based on his Marvel Comics graphic novel IRON MAN: EXTREMIS. He is currently developing his graphic novel sequence with Jason Howard, TREES, for television, in concert with HardySonBaker and NBCU, and continues to work as a screenwriter and producer in film and television, represented by Angela Cheng Caplan and Cheng Caplan Company. He is the creator, writer and co-producer of the Netflix series CASTLEVANIA, recently renewed for its third season, and of the recently-announced Netflix series HEAVEN’S FOREST.
He’s written extensively for VICE, WIRED UK and Reuters on technological and cultural matters, and given keynote speeches and lectures at events like dConstruct, ThingsCon, Improving Reality, SxSW, How The Light Gets In, Haunted Machines and Cognitive Cities.
Warren Ellis has recently developed and curated the revival of the Wildstorm creative library for DC Entertainment with the series THE WILD STORM, and is currently working on the serialising of new graphic novel works TREES: THREE FATES and INJECTION at Image Comics, and the serialised graphic novel THE BATMAN’S GRAVE for DC Comics, while working as a Consulting Producer on another television series.
A documentary about his work, CAPTURED GHOSTS, was released in 2012.
Recognitions include the NUIG Literary and Debating Society’s President’s Medal for service to freedom of speech, the EAGLE AWARDS Roll Of Honour for lifetime achievement in the field of comics & graphic novels, the Grand Prix de l’Imaginaire 2010, the Sidewise Award for Alternate History and the International Horror Guild Award for illustrated narrative. He is a Patron of Humanists UK. He holds an honorary doctorate from the University of Essex.
Warren Ellis lives outside London, on the south-east coast of England, in case he needs to make a quick getaway.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 36 reviews
July 18, 2012
Two-Step is short but sweet. I'd only pick it up if you can get it on the cheap as it's only three issues, with the second half of the book being comprised of Conner's sketches and a script with penciled and inked sketches of the first issue. The story is solid but not exactly mind blowing. What really makes the book fun is spotting all the small details that Conner has packed into pretty much every panel, from smoking mice to watching a repeat offender of cat eating to obese men trying to outrace traffic on roller chairs. This is a subtle way to also drive home the point of the story, which is that while you may think every day life is a bore, if you just stop to take a minute to look around, you may notice interesting things all around you.
If you're an Ellis fan looking to get a fix, this may actually not be the book for you. Amanda Conner is really the driving force behind this book, so if you don't like story that takes a slight backseat to the art you might want to stay away. Otherwise, I'd give it a go, it's a lot of fun to look at.
If you're an Ellis fan looking to get a fix, this may actually not be the book for you. Amanda Conner is really the driving force behind this book, so if you don't like story that takes a slight backseat to the art you might want to stay away. Otherwise, I'd give it a go, it's a lot of fun to look at.
September 10, 2020
A zen gangster gets followed by a video chat girl. Zen flying.
January 25, 2014
First thing i notice is too many weird things are happening in the background and they do seem interesting and funny most of the times. As for the central characters they are not really enjoyable, they don't have any chemistry. The plot never seems to go anywhere.
August 24, 2019
“I’m so bored, I could fart blood!”
You know you’re in for some high quality when that’s the line that’s uttered.
A cam girl and a “Zen gangster”....WTF is a Zen gangster? “I am a Zen gunman. Pulling the trigger is my act of contemplation!” Just saying that makes me want to throw up in my mouth a bit. 🤮
There’s some kind of Bollywood festival and parade going on and a bunch of weird characters running around, there’s a bunch of magical creatures like Medusa, then when they find the Vespa to ride around on, the action gets really going.... Whaaat? Nothing in this books makes any sense! What’s going on here?
You know you’re in for some high quality when that’s the line that’s uttered.
A cam girl and a “Zen gangster”....WTF is a Zen gangster? “I am a Zen gunman. Pulling the trigger is my act of contemplation!” Just saying that makes me want to throw up in my mouth a bit. 🤮
There’s some kind of Bollywood festival and parade going on and a bunch of weird characters running around, there’s a bunch of magical creatures like Medusa, then when they find the Vespa to ride around on, the action gets really going.... Whaaat? Nothing in this books makes any sense! What’s going on here?
January 14, 2024
The illustration work is fantastic, but it was a mistake to include Ellis's problematic script treatment. I understand that it's the perfect sort of thing to flesh out a collected edition like this. It was jarring to read, and undermined what was otherwise refreshing, carefree plotting.
November 10, 2016
This is supposed to be light fare but the story was uninteresting and the characters we flimsy. A few moments of good humor, and a few nice visuals from the artist, but overall unfunny and pale.
February 9, 2018
A quick, fun little romp with a few nice ideas, but ultimately forgettable.
November 8, 2018
This ones pretty silly right here but the cyber London future theme is kinda fun. Zen Gangster and Bored Camgirl... what could go wrong?
January 27, 2019
Would probably be 3 stars for the story alone, but the art pulls it up to a solid 4. Very enjoyable
July 11, 2022
Bloody fabulous mate! The art is fantastic and the story is engaging and hilarious.
August 7, 2016
While I definitely like something 'different', this really came off as trying too hard. The type of zaniness that you get when you put 5 frat boys in a cellar, get them high, and then tell them to come up with an idea for a comic. What you get is a mess, which a lot of over the top, overworked machinations and not enough plot. And while Two-Step tries hard to be the 'anti comic', you just end up with Transmetropolitan: the estrogen version. Too much male wish fulfillment, not enough content.
The plot (what there is of it) is pretty much what the book says on the back: he's a zen gangster, she's a bored camgirl." They cross paths, do weird things, cue lots of sexual references, book ends abruptly. It's supposed to occur over one night and be 'fun' in its zaniness, raunchiness, and the author pushing to see how far he can go into a future London of hedonism and nihilism.
The Illustrator has fun with backgrounds full of 'Where's Waldo' type of comic moments. But proportions were off several times (I don't advise he draw cats any more (hint: that's not how cats mate)) and something was off about the proportions of the humans. The 'cam' moments interspersed throughout were also unnecessary. Lovely color work but as a whole, the illustrated side didn't draw me in either.
With 1/4 of the slim book being storyboards, you can tell right off the bat that this has a LOT of padding. The intricate nature of the illustrations kind of make up for the shortcoming but not the lack of plot (or intelligence) on what feels honestly like lazy writing for the sake of ego rather than a sound comic. I'd read this before in Transmetropolitan and so this felt like an excised side plot from that series.
I have enjoyed the 'weirdness' of Ellis' other works but this one fell very flat for me.
The plot (what there is of it) is pretty much what the book says on the back: he's a zen gangster, she's a bored camgirl." They cross paths, do weird things, cue lots of sexual references, book ends abruptly. It's supposed to occur over one night and be 'fun' in its zaniness, raunchiness, and the author pushing to see how far he can go into a future London of hedonism and nihilism.
The Illustrator has fun with backgrounds full of 'Where's Waldo' type of comic moments. But proportions were off several times (I don't advise he draw cats any more (hint: that's not how cats mate)) and something was off about the proportions of the humans. The 'cam' moments interspersed throughout were also unnecessary. Lovely color work but as a whole, the illustrated side didn't draw me in either.
With 1/4 of the slim book being storyboards, you can tell right off the bat that this has a LOT of padding. The intricate nature of the illustrations kind of make up for the shortcoming but not the lack of plot (or intelligence) on what feels honestly like lazy writing for the sake of ego rather than a sound comic. I'd read this before in Transmetropolitan and so this felt like an excised side plot from that series.
I have enjoyed the 'weirdness' of Ellis' other works but this one fell very flat for me.
September 18, 2011
A zen gangster. A webcam girl walking about in real time. Their paths cross when the gangster is trying to boost a giant penis from a gang of short men with artificially large genitalia. And then they're on the run.
It's a barmy story from one of the best barmy story writers out there, Warren Ellis. It's not bad to read with plenty of Ellis tropes you'd expect (in particular a chap who shags cars to death) and Amanda Conner's art is as good as ever. But overall, I read this thinking that both artists have produced way better work and that if this were music, this book would definitely be a B-side.
On a separate note, this was originally a 3-issue series, around 60 pages. The 120 pages you see in the product description is the 3 issues plus script pages, plus sketchbook pages, to beef up the page count and therefore the price. Such blatant profiteering on the part of Wildstorm doesn't make me think better of this book and it loses a star because of this.
It's a barmy story from one of the best barmy story writers out there, Warren Ellis. It's not bad to read with plenty of Ellis tropes you'd expect (in particular a chap who shags cars to death) and Amanda Conner's art is as good as ever. But overall, I read this thinking that both artists have produced way better work and that if this were music, this book would definitely be a B-side.
On a separate note, this was originally a 3-issue series, around 60 pages. The 120 pages you see in the product description is the 3 issues plus script pages, plus sketchbook pages, to beef up the page count and therefore the price. Such blatant profiteering on the part of Wildstorm doesn't make me think better of this book and it loses a star because of this.
January 18, 2015
When a mercenary gangster and a bored “camera girl” accidentally bump into one another on the streets of a futuristic London, all chaos breaks loose for a romping ride through the city. While the comic teems with funny ideas (as with the part of Chinatown where dudes in suits are shooting at one another all the time amid flocks of doves), the characters and the story never really come together for me. I also found the depiction of Rosi Blades, the girl who makes her living streaming her life and adventures 24hours a day, too exploitative without compensating for it with an interesting character.
Read
August 7, 2011a VERY oddball and original and just bugnuts crazy world is created in this book but is easily inviting without over-explanation because Ellis and Conner and Palmiotti know what they're doing. they are also having a lot of fun. it takes a lot of balls (pun intended) to tell a story of two people on the run from a gang of midgets who want a stolen penis back. it's light entertainment, but its humor, style and genuine charm that elevate the material into an ultimately cute love story.
February 22, 2012
Numa Londres futurista de sanidade duvidosa um assassino zen e uma camgirl em busca de sensações fortes para a sua audiência envolvem-se com um gang violento por causa de um pénis gigante. Exacto. Leram bem. Pelo meio temos bizarrias à solta, um assassino profissional que se excita sexualmente com automóveis e momentos de filosofia ao puxar de um gatilho. Warren Ellis à solta, a divertir-se num ritmo pop sublinhado pelas cores vibrantes do estilo gráfico da ilustradora Amanda Conner.
July 15, 2012
A quick, three-issue romp through a London that's not quite the London of our universe. I immediately disliked the camgirl character, but as the story progressed, she showed a willingness to grow that I had not expected from the way that she was presented. Even the Zen gunman had a few moments where the "OH SH*T" burst through his placid demeanor. I picked this one up in the Graphic Novel section of my local library.
August 18, 2013
Couldn't be a much bigger fan of Warren Ellis and Amanda Conner, but this is definitely one of their lesser works. A zen gangster and a webcam girl face off against midget gangsters and a giant who shags cars from behind until they explode. It has a bunch of fun ideas sprinkled throughout, but the characters don't congeal and it all just feels like an exercise in weirdness more than a legitimate story.
June 11, 2014
I love Warren Ellis. This book is very similar to his work in Crooked Little Vein. It's perverse and nasty and funny as hell.
At one point a character tells another that she hates him so much that she can "taste it in [her] womb". I laughed out loud while reading this book.
This would be the kind of comic to give your friend who swears he doesn't like comics. Especially if he or she has a wicked sense of humor.
At one point a character tells another that she hates him so much that she can "taste it in [her] womb". I laughed out loud while reading this book.
This would be the kind of comic to give your friend who swears he doesn't like comics. Especially if he or she has a wicked sense of humor.
January 24, 2015
Tony Bling is a zen-reading gangster and Camgirl records all the wild action around her in London - and is bored to the point of suicide. Tony resembles a typical Warren Ellis protagonist: floppy hair (dark this time), suit and tie, cigarette, wise-cracks. They come up against other gangsters out for blood, and a car-raping thup.
Lots of action here, none of it very serious, none of it anything Warren Ellis couldn't write in his sleep.
Lots of action here, none of it very serious, none of it anything Warren Ellis couldn't write in his sleep.
November 23, 2015
Twisted, violent confection by one of my favorite comic authors. Maybe it's the art, but this read more like something written by Garth Ennis, than Warren Ellis.
Beautiful artwork, with a great attention to detail, just nothing too substantial.
Recommended for Ellis fans, but not a great starting point.
Beautiful artwork, with a great attention to detail, just nothing too substantial.
Recommended for Ellis fans, but not a great starting point.
June 14, 2011
Decent wacky (and dirty) action-frenzy, similar in humor and tone to Ellis's Nextwave comics, but definitely frivolous. Probably wouldn't have been quite as funny or interesting without the magic of Amanda Conner, especially her "webcam" page compositions.
February 19, 2011
Good, naughty fun. Not the biggest fan of the slick coloring, but I really liked the unique Cam Girl layouts and the details of this bizarre future London world that could be highlighted through using that trick. Good pacing as a collected book. Damn this man has written a lot of comics!
June 19, 2011
Cheerfully transgressive. Not appropriate bus-reading. There's this thing with this guy who's got this thing for cars and, um, yeah.
It's half scripts and drafts, which meant I was not prepared for it to just end where it did.
Oddly romantic. Except for the content.
It's half scripts and drafts, which meant I was not prepared for it to just end where it did.
Oddly romantic. Except for the content.
June 4, 2012
Hilarious, creative, with amazing art and a beautifully 'punked' alternative London. Plus excessive amounts of toilet humor and swearing. Warren Ellis and Amanda Conner are a brilliant creative combination of gutterwank.
February 28, 2015
definitely an interesting take on london gangs and the future, yet, nothing really too surprising at all. fun and quick-paced tale. NO capes or masks or tights (superhero tights that is). just a ridiculous fun story
January 29, 2011
A fun romp through alterna-London, easy if typically odd for Ellis. Artist was especially suited to the odd & fun nature of the story.
March 2, 2011
I dont normally say this but I really wish this series was longer. Both main characters are really fun. Check this one out for a quick fun read and also The Pro which has similar style to it.
March 7, 2011
Fluff, but quirky and inventive, as you'd expect from Ellis.
November 22, 2011
Interesting story, great action, perhaps one too many exploding penises.
April 19, 2012
Transmet with boobs. Not one of Ellis's finest.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 36 reviews